Blackbaud Reviews

Avoid it at any cost

Pros

Nothing positive at all. One of our board members signed an agreement without approval from the rest of the board. When we tried to reverse it they came back with their lawyer involved.

Cons

We had a really bad experience as one of our board members signed up for it and then left the board without permission to make agreements. When we tried to cancel through our lawyer Blackbaud sent us several threatening letters. Even though our attorney responded we ended up paying for a whole year. Our cancellation requests were ignored and they are still trying to collect money to this day.

Do not spend on this one

Pros

The best feature was being able to create recurring entries until they removed that when switching to web only use. Since I have over 200 recurring entries every month, this change has been really draining my time and energy.

Cons

Customer support is way too bad. It feels like they just hire random people. Over three years I only spoke to one person who actually understood accounting. And the pricing is ridiculous like a 25% hike after the initial contract which was supposed to switch to an annual fee but now they say it is a 3 year contract. Nobody in my group agreed to that especially since their software is not the best for small organizations.

Perfect CRM for charity groups

Pros

I like how easy it is to use and navigate. Plus the the built in payment processor, customizable donation forms, multiple forms, reporting features and the variety of available plugins are also some amazing features of it.

Cons

The way it connects with other software like Constant Contact is something I did not like at all.

powerful CRM but kinda old-fashioned

Pros

It offers lots of useful features and we find it pretty customizable. And the point and click interface is user friendly too.

Cons

One thing I did not like is that it takes way too many clicks to do simple things and the interface feels stuck in the 90s.

Login issues and has unclear terms

Pros

I am a customer of another company, Russian School of Math (RSM) and they use Blackbaud as their payment provider. I personally find it useful as paying RSM has been a real nightmare for me.

Cons

When I register for a new class it creates a new family ID which makes no sense. As I am buying a class not a family. So the terminology is confusing. I have to use one website for registration, another for payment and a third one I am not even sure about. Plus the payment site has multiple school accounts which is really frustrating. I expect just one login for the whole company not separate ones for each branch. Also I do not want to deal with Blackbaud details when I am working with RSM. Plus the password rules are way too strict too.

Works fine

Pros

The thing I like the most about it is that it stores a lot of information about each constituent.

Cons

Sometimes it is really hard for me to find the data I need.

Find another option if you lack it

Pros

Since it is online, it allows us to attach backups which I like. Also uploading budgets is easy with it.

Cons

Customer support is really poor. There is no one to help with problems fully. They say you can call one company for everything but it feels like 20 different companies blaming each other. Also it is impossible to get issues fixed. Overall I am very unhappy.

Stay as far from it as you can

Pros

The sales team gave a great presentation to us but the support and customer service after implementation have been terrible.

Cons

Well their customer service and support are terrible. Also training is complicated for a nonprofit with volunteers and keeping data updated takes us forever and feels outdated.

Helpful support team

Pros

I enjoy the user experience as it is easy and very user-friendly. Plus customer support responds quickly and is helpful.

Cons

Honestly I think it could be cheaper but overall the quality is good.

Good for those who invest time

Pros

Blackbaud CRM has lots of useful tools for fundraising, donor management and grant writing. We have used it for several years and it has proven to be a great tool for our company over the past two years. After the first year we realized that if you don't really learn the product and spend time with the company's online tutorials, it is not worth the money. The tutorials and modules are pretty helpful for getting the most out of it. Also the price is fair if you commit to fully using the software. And customer service is always excellent and the reps are very helpful.

Cons

You need to spend time upfront learning how to use the product otherwise you won't get the full benefits. Also it is not hard once you know your way around but it is not pretty user friendly. Like we cannot just jump in and figure things out easily.